BABBITT- Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup is a Minnesota Thanksgiving meal must-have for many generations of area families, including Crystal Schlueter’s of Babbitt. Crystal also happens to be an amateur, though soon-to-be professional, recipe writer, thanks in part to her creative uses for this longtime staple of so many Midwest kitchens.
Last year, when Campbell’s invited home cooks to share their favorite holiday side dish recipe using one of their popular cream-based soups, Crystal got to work and her recipe ultimately won the nationwide contest.
It was hardly her first time. Crystal has entered many recipe contests over the years, and has won or placed in more than 50 national contests so far. While she often enters contests that offer cash prizes, sometimes she enters contests that simply look fun, like this one.
“Growing up in Minnesota,” she said, “you know cream of mushroom soup!”
Her new recipe is featured on a holiday-themed can of cream of mushroom soup, now available in local grocery stores. The recipe is based on a creative use of leftovers that her family enjoyed, now tweaked to add in more fresh vegetables and updated seasonings.
“I try to use fresh stuff if I can,” she said.
She reimagined the traditional green bean casserole into a quiche, based on a recipe she made using leftovers from Thanksgiving. It uses fresh green beans, onions, and baby bella mushrooms, which are first roasted in the oven and then added to a creamy, egg-rich filling, which of course, included a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup. The quiche is topped with toasted panko and “everything bagel” seasoning.
Crystal came to the recipe contest game almost by accident.
“I was in a thrift shop one day buying cookbooks,” she said, “and bought a book about cooking contests.”
That was over 12 years ago. She read that book cover to cover, and her new passion was born.
Her favorite recipes tend to be those related to her Finnish and Scandinavian roots.
Crystal grew up in Babbitt, graduating from Babbitt High School and studied at Vermilion Community College, but then enlisted in the Navy when she was 18. She initially wanted to serve as a medic, but there was a waiting list to get into medic school, so she served for five years in the military police, including time spent in Iraq during wartime.
She is a self-taught cook, although she learned her way around the kitchen from her mother and grandmother. While traveling around the world in the Navy, she “fell in love with different cuisines and the stories behind them.”
After the Navy, she lived for a time in Colorado before moving back home to Babbitt.
“After living in some big cities, I realized I liked living in the woods,” she said. Her mother still lives in Babbitt, along with a sister and her family.
Closer to home, she won the Star Tribune holiday cookie contest back in 2016, with her Nut Goodie Thumbprint cookies, which is included in the “Great Minnesota Cookie Book (this is a must have holiday baking book in my house, and an updated version was recently published).
“I really love holiday cookies,” she said.
What comes next
Crystal is working on recipes for a new cookbook, that will be published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press in 2026. The book will feature recipes from the Iron Range. She also has a recipe in the fall issue of Edible Minnesota magazine, and two more coming out in the magazine’s winter issue. She writes her own articles and also does her own food photography.
Now that she is being paid for publishing her recipes, she said she may no longer be considered a “home cook.” Even so, “I am doing what I love,” she said.
Right now, she is cooking and creating recipes full-time in her rural Babbitt home. She also writes cooking columns for some area newspapers. She also sells homemade cakes, but she said it’s hard to justify the time spent versus the money earned.
Interested in entering a contest?
Crystal said that the website Calling All Contestants is a free place to find cooking contests to enter, https://callingallcontestants.com. She also finds contests on social media, like Instagram.
“There used to be more contests to enter,” she said. “They seem to have cooled down a bit.”
Right now, she is waiting to hear if she placed in a $10,000 cookie contest.
The Campbell’s contest did not come with a cash prize, but did come with a lot of publicity, a nice set of cookware, and 10 cases of her specially-labeled soup, which was donated to the Ely Food Shelf.
Her top contest win was for a 2022 Heinz Culinary Magic Contest, where she won $32,000 for a recipe of cauliflower steaks that used two of their new sauces.
Watch Crystal bake her quiche live on the Fox 9 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=576958195312632
Make it at home
Everything Quiche made with Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (amount divided in recipe steps below)
1 cup fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 ounces sliced baby bella mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1 can (10.5 ounces) Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
4 large eggs, beaten
4 ounces softened cream cheese
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1 deep dish ready to bake frozen pie crust in a foil pan (unthawed)
1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons everything bagel seasoning
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion (scallions) (green parts only)
Instructions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil over a foil-lined rimmed cookie sheet.  Top with the green beans, mushrooms and onion.  Toss to coat.  
Step 2
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the vegetables are softened and just starting to brown, stirring halfway through the baking time.  Let the vegetables cool for 5 minutes.  
Step 3
In a large bowl, beat together the soup, eggs, cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper until thoroughly mixed.  Gently stir the vegetables into the soup mixture and pour into the pie crust.  Discard the foil and place the quiche onto the cookie sheet.
Step 4
In a small skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat.  Add the panko and cook for 7-8 minutes or until golden brown, stirring often.  Spoon the panko over the quiche filling.  Sprinkle with everything bagel seasoning.
Step 5
Bake at 400 degrees F for 50-60 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is set.  Let cool for 5 minutes, then sprinkle with scallions.